


The Bear Story

by Imcalledzorro



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Bears, Camping, First Aid, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24494860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imcalledzorro/pseuds/Imcalledzorro
Summary: Mac and the crew attempt to go on another camping trip. Needless to says things don't always go according to plan.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	The Bear Story

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! I hope everybody is staying safe. So a little backstory for this fic. I first came up with the bear story forever ago. The story was very similar but featured my youth group. Over the years it has changed and the cast of 'campers' has changed with it. It's been a VBS story, my sister's college story (I got a A on it!), and various other incarnations. Then I got the idea to share it with ya'll! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Also a HUGE thanks to the wonderful and amazing bkworm4life4 for betaing this for me! She is awesome! Any remaining mistakes are all mine!

It was a beautiful spring day and Angus MacGyver and his friends were making the most of it. It was a rare Saturday that they all had off, so the gang was gathered at Mac’s house for a cookout on the back deck. Wilt Bozer and Jack Dalton were arguing over grill space. Bozer was fixing up his famous hamburgers while Jack was trying to grill some steak kebabs, with his famous Texas seasoning, but Bozer was being territorial with the grill. Leanna Martin and Riley Davis were laughing at the ‘Bozer and Jack’ show while they were getting the sides set out on the picnic table. Mac was cleaning out the fire pit, getting it ready for use, because when the sun started to go down he knew it would be getting cold and the fire would be welcome then.

“Dang it Bozer!” Jack exclaimed. “How many times do I have to tell you? This is not bar-b-quing! This is grilling.” Jack hung his head in exasperation. “You cook the meat low and slow if you are bar-b-quing.”

Leanna frowned, “What does low and slow have to do with bar-b-quing?”

“Uncultured swine, I tell you! I am surrounded by them!” Jack moaned.

“Well that’s something you should know plenty about Dalton.” Their boss Matilda Webber said as she entered the deck. She set a container on the picnic table and stood with her hand on her hips facing Jack. “Well?”

He looked at her blankly, “Well what?” 

“Are you going to tell us what low and slow means, or were you just referring to yourself?”

Jack ignored the barb. “Low refers to the heat, and slow to how long you cook it.” He held up his steak skewers. “See you want to grill these quickly at high heat to make sure the outside is well done, but leaving the inside a bit pink. When you really bar-b-que you want the heat to be low, and for the smoke to really get in there and cook into it. Ok, for all y’all’s birthdays I’m gettin' ya a subscription to the KCBS Bullsheet and some lessons on bar-b-que! Then maybe you’ll quit abusing the word.” Jack nodded like he thought that was a great idea.

“I don’t care what you call it.” Matty stated. “As long as we can eat it. Now, when will all this food be done? I made some brownies for dessert.”

Matty wasn’t known for her skills in the kitchen, but she sure could whip up a batch of brownies that even Mac enjoyed. Bozer looked at his watch, while slapping Jack’s hand away from opening the grill. “My delicious creation should be ready in about five minutes if this idiot would keep the lid down.”

Matty shook her head at their antics. Six minutes later Bozer set a plate loaded with hamburgers and steak skewers on the table with all the sides and everybody dug in. For a full eight minutes nobody says anything other than a few ‘this is awesome’ mumbled around a mouthful of food.

Jack, of course, was the first to break the silence. He popped a fry into his mouth. “So I want everybody to go around and name one thing that they haven’t done, that they want to do before they die.”

Riley looked at him askance. “Morbid much?”

Jack shot a smile back at her, “Congrats! You get to go first!” 

She chunked a piece of carrot at him, which he caught in his mouth causing Bozer and Mac to start laughing. “Fine,” she thought for a few seconds. “I want to go on an actual camping trip.” Stopping Jack before he could say anything, “The wilderness training disaster so does not count. I want something with actual food, where we can have s’mores over the campfire.”

Leanna started nodding. “While I was lucky enough to escape that disaster of a trip, I also haven’t been on a true camping trip either. Something always went wrong when we tried to go with Girl Scouts.” She shook her head with a smile on her face at the memories.

Nodding Jack said, “You know that could be fun. We could do some hiking, a little fishing. That place where Mac likes to torture people and call it wilderness training actually has some good fishing spots.”

Bozer jumped onboard. “I have been wanting to try out that new cast iron skillet my parents got me for Christmas, it’s supposed to be the best when it comes to outdoor cooking. You know, if Jack don’t scare away all the fish.”

“Well somebody will have to make sure the world keeps spinning, so I’m out,” Matty announced. “But I’ll make sure that you have the days off.”

That left Mac. Everybody turned to look at him. He rubbed his leg remembering the last time that he was up in those woods, and how lucky he had gotten. But despite his misgivings he plastered on a big grin and said, “Why not? I mean what can go wrong that didn’t go wrong last time?”

_Three Weeks Later_

“I was wondering how long it would be before you dragged yourself back up here.” Fred greeted Mac as he stepped out of the rented SUV. He eyed the group as they exited the vehicle. “Another training weekend?”

Mac grinned at his friend as they shook hands. “Not this time. We’re doing an actual camping trip, complete with gear.” 

Jack stepped around Mac to shake Fred’s hand, while Riley, Bozer, and Leanna unloaded the SUV. Fred scratched his beard as he grinned at Bozer, “Y’all be careful out there. I’ve seen some sign of a large predator. Not sure if it’s a cougar, wolf, or what.”

“We’d be lucky to see either of those animals.” Mac said excitedly.

Jack shot his friend a look. “Speak for yourself, Hoss. I only wanna see them in a zoo. With lots of space between the two of us! And possibly a rifle barrel, that would make me feel much better!”

Mac shook his head at his friend’s antics. “Thanks for that Fred!” Then turning to Jack, “Don’t forget to give Fred the keys so you won’t lose them like you did that one time.”

“That’s not fair, and you know it!” Jack exclaimed as he handed over the keys to Fred who was laughing at their banter. “It was a freak accident.” Jack’s complaints continued as they picked up their packs and started for the trail head as Mac led the way. Before they left the house Mac and Jack had gone over everything that the group would need and had distributed the gear that they were taking evenly between the packs, giving themselves the heaviest loads. But Jack made sure that Bozer carried his own cast iron skillet.

As they hiked along the path Mac hung back to keep an eye on his friends to make sure that nobody was struggling with their pack, but everybody was walking easily and quietly chatting to each other. Once Mac was satisfied he quickly made his way back to the front. As he walked he enjoyed looking at all nature had to offer, secretly hoping he spied a wolf or cougar off in the distance. It was great to be back in the great outdoors without anyone shooting at you or break… Mac’s inner thoughts were interrupted by Jack’s voice. “So how much longer ‘til we’re there? I’m getting hungry.”

Turning his head to give Jack what he hoped was a ‘are you kidding me’ look Mac sighed and just avoided tripping over a tree root. Pulling out the map in his back pocket he estimated about where they were and their current pace, “I’m thinking about an hour or two. Do I need to call a rest for you to scarf down a power bar?” Then a thought hit Mac. “Or I can grab you some of those yummy delicious cattails!”

Bozer overheard the conversation, “Aww heck no! I ain’t putting one of those nasty butt things in my mouth again, unless it’s an emergency!” He spit on the ground like he could still taste them.

Riley shoulder checked him, with a teasing smirk on her face. “Oh, come on Bozer, they weren’t that bad!”

“Girl! Your taste buds must have shorted out, or maybe the brain trauma is finally getting to you.” He raised his voice. “Hey Mac, maybe we need to start making Riley wear a helmet during missions, I think….” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence because Riley elbowed him shutting him up.

With a wink at Leanna, who was laughing at their antics, “So how many birds do you think we can find? I already found the dodo.” Riley asked, leaving Bozer sputtering behind them.

Mac turned around to keep an eye on where he was going. It was great to see everyone smiling and having a good time. Well most everybody. Every couple of steps Jack would stop and shake his foot. Jack noticed the looks that Mac kept giving him.

“Shut up.”

Mac threw up his hands, ducking under a low hanging branch, “Branch!” He called out, to warn the others behind him.

“You don’t have to say anything, I can see what you’re thinking written all over that face of yours.” Jack said gesticulating wildly.

“Well I did warn you…” Mac trailed off not wanting to rub it in, pun intended.

With a sigh and another shake of his foot, “Yeah, you did warn me to break these new hiking books in before we tackled this here trail.” He sighed and shook the other foot. “I also know that if we stop now, and I rest, it’ll be hell after the break. Like they told us in training, the only way through hell is to keep on going.” Jack sighed.

“You are such a baby, if you would just let me…”

Jack cut Mac off. “I’m not going to let you plaster my feet in leaves, last time it left my feet green and smelling like…. a uh” Jack paused, searching for the right word. “Tree! For a _month_!”

Mac was chuckling to himself, trust Jack to turn down a perfectly safe remedy because he didn’t like the side-effects. Mac shrugged, “Suit yourself, man.” Then, just to be mean, he picked up the pace. Mac could hear Jack quietly cursing under his breath, and smirked. Their lunch consisted of power bars and fruit, things that were easily eaten while walking. Jack stubbornly still refused to let Mac doctor his feet. When Jack started limping Mac felt bad, and slowed their pace down hoping that Jack would let him doctor his feet that had to be throbbing by now, but the stubborn lug just kept on going.

An hour later they arrived at the clearing that Mac had decided would make a great camping spot. It was a grassy clearing near a bluff with a stream running close by, and a view that National Geographic would kill to photograph. There was evidence that people had used this for a camp site before. A fire-circle was clearly marked and had several logs pulled up to use as makeshift benches. Someone had even been kind enough to leave a stack of wood beside the fire-circle.

Jack let out a soft moan as he sat and unlaced his boots and eased them off of his aching feet. Mac felt bad when he saw that a few places were even bleeding. He slipped over to a plant he knew had numbing properties picked a few leaves and walked back to Jack quietly giving them to his friend.

“So our first order of business will be to set up the tents,” Mac announced. He got a few good natured groans, but everybody dropped their packs and unloaded the two tents. Leanna and Riley got a smaller tent, while Bozer, Mac, and Jack shared the larger tent that Mac had packed.

“I bet we can get our tent up faster,” Riley called to Bozer and Mac.

Bozer narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend who was backing Riley up. “What are we betting? My man, Mac here was practically born in a tent.”

Leanna grinned, “Loser fixes supper for the winners.”

Mac raised an eyebrow, “We’re roasting hot dogs.”

Riley raised the stakes, “And does the clean-up.”

“You’re on!” Bozer agreed. “Jack will be the judge.”

Jack was still sitting by the fire-circle, Mac had asked him to get the fire going while the rest of them set up the camp site. Looking up from his fire building he said, “On the count of three. One, two, three, _GO!”_

Both teams went to work, quickly throwing up their respective tents, but Mac and Bozer were able to get theirs put up much quicker than the girls. “I don’t know why you challenged them in the first place,” Jack asked them puzzled. “You guys know that Bozer has helped Mac put up the tent a million times.”

Leanna grinned, “I have a bit of a competitive streak sometimes.”

“Does that extend to fishing too?” Jack questioned.

“Maybe,” she said with a laugh. Once they had camp set up for the night they had a few hours to kill before it started getting dark. Jack, Bozer, and Leanna planned to see if they could catch some fish to supplement the hot dogs with. Mac was going to do a tree survey, while Riley planned to stay at the campsite and get a little reading in.

A couple of hours later the five of them were gathered back around the campfire watching Bozer cook the fish that Leanna and Jack had caught. They had each caught one apiece and would not stop arguing to see which one was bigger. Jack, being the gentleman, had skinned and filleted both of the fish readying them for the frying pan. Bozer had almost let Leanna cook it, but at the last second took over. So, she grabbed her thermos and took a seat beside Jack, who gave her an apprising look.

“You planned that didn’t you.”

With a big smile on her face, Leanna answered, “I don’t know what you are talking about? It can’t be the fact that my boyfriend can’t stand for someone else to do the cooking if he is around?”

“Tricky, tricky,” Jack tsked. He rummaged around in the cooler that they had brought to keep the food in grabbing the hot dogs. “All right who wants to roast some yummy hot dogs?”

Riley laughed as Mac passed around the roasting sticks. “Hot dogs and fresh fish, that’s quite the paring.”

Mac shrugged as he poked his hot dog on the roasting stick and set it down on his make-shift roaster to evenly cook over the flames. “At least it’s good food.”

“Amen to that!” Bozer agreed. “When I get through with this fish, you’ll be singing my praises as this fish will be the tastiest thing you put in your mouth,” he paused for a second. “Well it might just be as tasty as the special chocolate spread I brought for the s’mores.”

The rest of supper passed in the same teasing fun manner. As Mac looked around the fire he admitted that this had been an excellent idea as all of his teammates were grinning and having a great time. Jack burped patting his full belly. “Well I don’t think I can eat another bite, I’m as full as a tick.”

Arching an eyebrow in Jack’s direction Mac asked, “Not even a s’more?”

Jack waved a hand in the air dismissing what Mac said. “That don’t count. It’s part of the meal.

Bozer got out the box of his homemade marshmallows, ‘The store-bought ones are too round and puffy in the center. For a good s’more marshmallow you need a square one.” Bozer had said when Mac had asked what his friend was doing. Then he took out the homemade chocolate spread followed by the graham crackers.

Leanna carefully held hers over the campfire, “When I was in Girl Scouts one of my leaders worked for a grocery store, and she would bring us expired cookies coated in chocolate or chocolate icing to make our s’mores with.” She smiled softly at the memory, her teeth glowing softly in the waning light.

“Was she trying to kill you?” Bozer asked, incredulously.

“No,” Leanna answered laughing. “They weren’t bad, just past the sell by date.” Her eyes lit up. “Oh, we should sing campfire songs!”

Mac shook his head violently, “You do _not_ want Jack to sing.”

“We’re not talking about karaoke here, it’s camp songs,” Riley protested. “In fact, I seem to remember one time you dragged me and Mom to a campfire similar to this one where we did sing some silly songs.” She looked over and patted him on the knee, “Thanks Jack.”

“So if we’re not doing camp songs, then how about scary stories?” Jack suggested. The protests were immediate.

“I’m not listening to another tale of the wendigo and how he eats people,” Mac stated emphatically, as he carefully arranged his s’more.

Bozer snickered, “I feel like there is a story behind that.”

Perfecting his s’more Mac shot a look at Jack. “Yeah there is, and Jack’s not telling that one either.” He bit into his dessert ignoring the protests of his friends. Swallowing the first delicious bite Mac said, “You’re right Boze, this is delicious.”

Which got Bozer started on what all it took to create this culinary masterpiece. They spent the next hour just chatting and unwinding from the stress of their intense jobs. As the night grew longer, Jack let out a jaw cracking yawn. “I hate to cut this short, but I’m all tuckered out. Night y’all.” Jack slowly made his way to the tent.

Mac and Bozer looked at each other, “Well I guess we should probably bank the fire for the night and go to bed ourselves.” Everybody chipped in and soon the campsite was cleaned up, and the fire was banked.

“Night, Riley. Night, Leanna.” Mac said as he made his way behind Bozer.

“Night, Mac. Night Bozer.” Riley called back.

“Night Leanna. Night Riley.” Bozer called with a hint of a grin in his voice.

Before Leanna got a chance to say anything Jack hollered from his tent. “Goodnight John-boy. Now be quiet!”

*****************************

Riley and Leanna climbed into their tent zipping up the doorway behind them. Each one got comfortable in their sleeping bag. “This was a great trip, I’m glad that we got to do this,” Leanna said quietly. “We don’t get to spend much time together just the two of us.”

After a pause to think Riley replied, “You’re right! I never thought of that before, huh.” Riley turned over on her side facing Leanna. “So what’s the latest on the apartment?”

Leanna groaned, “I don’t know.” She huffed and rubbed at her face. “I love Bozer, I do, but…” She trailed off. Riley let the silence stretch, “But the thought of moving in together scares me a bit. I didn’t mean to get his hopes up then dash them, but we’re fixing it up right now. One day at a time.” She grinned at Riley, “So what about you and Billy?”

Laughing Riley protested, “That’s not fair!”

Arching an eyebrow, “Turnabout certainly is fair play! The man looked up your long lost grandma and took you on a trip to meet her.” She paused for a second, “Jack told us that he wants you to come and work with them.”

“Jack can’t keep his mouth shut to save his life. Did you know that during an op they gave him truth serum and when Mac pulled him out he was singing like a canary!” She laughed a little at the memory. “He was telling everybody how much he loved them.” She paused remembering, “I think me might have even promised to get me a pony.”

“Nice diversionary tactic there.” Leanna answered drolly, but Riley saw the smirk playing on her lips.

With a roll of her eyes Riley capitulated, “While I like working with Billy, the Phoenix is my family.” She shrugged pulling the sleeping bag closer around her. “His family is interesting, but I’m happy where I’m at right now.”

Leanna nodded in understanding, “So what was it like meeting your grandmother?”

“It was wild!”

Riley and Leanna continued to talk for a while before Leanna said, “Uggh, I’ve got to go to the bathroom.” She looked at Riley, “Would you mind?”

“Coming with you? Not in the least, I wouldn’t want to go out there by myself either.” She sat up and began to unzip herself from the sleeping bag.

“Thanks!” Leanna sounded relived.

After she finished putting her shoes on Riley grabbed her flashlight and waited at the door of the tent for Leanna. She heard something moving around outside and turning to Leanna she grinned, “Bet that’s Jack getting a little midnight snack!” She didn’t wait for a reply, but unzipped the door of the tent. What was waiting outside was certainly _not_ Jack Dalton. Instead, bathed in the light of the full moon, was a massively large bear!

Riley froze right outside the tent. Leanna however, let out a massive scream that deafened Riley’s right ear for a few seconds, and probably broke some glass somewhere. The boys responded to the scream like ants coming out of an anthill as they piled out of the tent. At the sight of the bear all three drew up short and Jack dived back into the tent.

In response to Leanna’s scream the bear stood up on its hind paws and let out a roar that Riley was pretty sure caused a minor earthquake, but it knocked her out of her stupor and she dove back into the tent for her backpack. Before the trip she had been researching to see what kinds of animals that they might run into and the guide had suggested that hikers bring bear spray with them. Popping back out of the tent armed with the bear-spray Riley was ready to stand up to the giant creature.

With a single minded determination she advanced towards the bear and let it have the spray right in the face. What she didn’t notice until it was too late was Jack with his pistol pointed at the raging creature was standing right behind the bear. The bear let out another roar before it pitched sideways landing on top of Jack.

“Jack!” Several voices cried out in alarm. But the man lay there quietly on the ground, the bear however didn’t stay where it had fallen. It chuffed as the massive creature found its footing. Riley didn’t know what to do. If she sprayed the bear again right then she would be also get her friends. She noticed that Leanna and Bozer were approaching Jack opposite of the bear. As she watched, Mac grabbed a piece of rope that they had brought as he made his way to the bear. ‘ _What is he doing?’_ Riley wondered. Whatever he had planned, Mac didn’t get a chance to implement it, as the bear lashed out striking her friend in the arm and sending him headfirst into a nearby tree.

“Mac!” She screamed, partly out of fear, and partly as a way to attract the bear’s attention. The bear stopped advancing towards Mac and turned its beefy head towards her. So Riley let the beast have the pepper spray fully in its face. It let out another massive bellow and staggering towards the cliff, Riley let him have it again, this time when the bear jerked from the sting it rolled over the cliff swiftly disappearing from sight.

Riley sagged in relief, almost dropping the spray, but when she heard Mac moan she ran over to him fearing the worst. She dropped the spray as she kneeled beside her fallen friend. “Mac?” She glanced over, and saw Bozer and Leanna helping Jack to stand, he looked wobbly, but he was conscious. Turning her attention back to Mac, he was slumped against the tree with his head resting against the trunk. Blood was leaking from his arm where the bear has swiped at him, in the darkness she wasn’t sure how bad the wounds were. He moaned again, “Hey Mac, can you wake up for me?” She touched his face trying to wake him up further, but not wanting to move his head in case he had a spinal injury.

Blue eyes cracked open. Blinking he asked, “Riley?”

“Yeah, Mac.” She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Did’a bear get me?” He asked blearily as he moved to sit up.

Stooping she held out her hand, “Think you can stand up? I think Bozer’s getting the fire going again.”

He responded by grabbing her hand and pulling himself up. Once up he wavered, then lurched over and threw-up up his dinner. “Those s’mores did _not_ taste as good the second time.” He let out a little moan. “Gah, my head is killing me.”

Riley snickered, “Well that’s what you get for, what _were_ you trying to do?”

Mac frowned then stopped as it pulled on the cut he had on his forehead from his collision with the tree. “I was…maybe….” He trailed off, stumbling again. “I don’t know.”

She led him to sit beside Jack, who looked at his friend woozily, “Wha’ happen to you?”

Riley looked over to where Bozer and Leanna had the first aid kit open and were digging through it, so she figured that is was her job to guard and monitor the injured parties.

“Same that happened to you. The bear got me.”Mac blinked a few times then looked up in alarm. “Where is the bear?” He asked in alarm as he tried to stand up, but Riley gently pushed him back down.

But Mac’s panic alarmed Jack who started looking around, “Is it coming back? I don’t wanna get smashed again, everything hurts.”

Riley shook her head, they reminded her of two children, “The bear is gone guys. It fell over the cliff. You don’t need to worry about it anymore.”

“I had a cousin that said that bear tasted like chicken,” Jack volunteered.

Giving him a puzzled look Riley asked, “Did you get a concussion too?”

Jack shook his head, “Nah, it just.” He clapped his hands together, “Smashed me like a pancake. I think the only place that doesn’t hurt is my left pinkie toe.”

Bozer swooped in to help, he had a spelunker’s flashlight strapped to his head and initially blinded both Mac and Jack. After adjusting it he asked, “Ok Dr. Bozer is reporting for duty. Who needs me?”

Both Jack and Mac pointed at each other. Jack spoke first, “I only got smasheded, he,” Jack motioned at Mac, “needs some lookin’ after. So doc, give me one of those morphine sticks and have Leanna help me to my bedroll so I can sleep this horrible night off.” All three of them looked at him quizzically. Riley had thought he would at least stay until Mac got all doctored up. Jack looked at the three of them, “I don’t mean now, after you get done with my boy here.” He clumsily patted Mac on the knee.

Mac jerked his head up when Jack patted his knee, “Bear doesn’t taste like chicken. It’s supposed to be really greasy. In fact the Native Americans valued bear grease and used it to shine their hair, and so when they went on raids it was harder for their enemies to catch them.”

“Okaaaaay?” Bozer questioned, looking worriedly at Mac.

“Jack just informed us that bear tastes like chicken according to his cousin.” Riley shook her head, “And now Mac is responding in typical Mac fashion. I’m pretty sure he has a concussion.”

“My head hurts.” Mac stated looking queasy and miserable.

Riley felt bad for him. Mac obviously had a concussion, and blood was still dripping off his cheek from the laceration on his temple, and they hadn’t even seen how much damage the bear had done to his arm. She placed her hand on his good arm and gave it a gentle squeeze, “I know, we’ll get you all cleaned up and you can go lay down okay?” Mac just nodded. Riley stepped back to make room for Bozer.

“Okay Roomie, let’s get that bleeding stopped and then we’ll see how bad your arm is.” Bozer stated as he looked at the gash in Mac’s temple. Leanna wordlessly handed him a gauze pad from the first aid kit, which Bozer placed on top of the seeping wound.

“Head wounds bleed like a stuck hog.” Jack volunteered out of nowhere.

“It’s because there are more blood vessels close to the skin and ….” Mac trailed off. “I think I’m gonna be sick again.” Was all the warning they got as Mac leaned forward and expelled more of the dinner they had eaten.

“Did you have to puke on my foot?” Jack moaned while making his own gagging noises. “You know I’m a sympathetic puker there Hoss.”

“I’m sorry.” Mac said looking truly miserable. It must have also broken Leanna’s heart, because she stepped in.

She handed Bozer a thermos of water for Mac to wash his mouth out, and got a hold of Jack’s arm. “Okay Jack, let’s go wash your foot off and get you settled in bed.” Jack started to open his mouth. “And before you protest Riley will sit beside Mac and hold his hand, okay?”

Jack miserably nodded his head. Leanna grabbed the syringe of morphine and went to tuck Jack in bed. 

Mac rinsed out his mouth and spat the water to the side. “I didn’t mean to puke on Jack.” He turned his sad puppy dog like eyes on Riley. “Do you think he’ll forgive me?”

Riley tried her hardest not to laugh. “If he’s forgiven you for the thousands of phones that you have torn up then he’ll forgive you for this.” Mac just nodded in response.

Bozer started peeling the layers off Mac. He had on a short-sleeve shirt, and a long sleeve flannel shirt on over that. “I’m sorry this will probably hurt.” Bozer apologized. Riley slipped her hand in Mac’s hand as Bozer poured water over the wounds in his arm. Mac gripped Riley’s hand tightly, but didn’t show any other sign of pain.

Then Bozer gently eased the flannel off and pulled up the under shirt. Riley was scared to look fearing that Mac’s bones would be showing or something equally as gross, but when she looked it wasn’t bad as she had feared.

Across Mac’s upper arm were three red parallel lines, they were deep and long. But not as deep and long as Riley had feared, she sighed in relief.

“Am I going to lose my arm?” Mac asked wide-eyed.

“No!” Riley and Bozer exclaimed at the same time.

“I just need to clean it out real good and wrap it up for tonight; you might not even need stitches in it!” Bozer informed Mac as he grabbed the bottle of peroxide. Mac hissed as the peroxide cleaned out the wounds, and gripped Riley’s hand a bit tighter as Bozer dried it off. Finally he put gauze on the seeping wounds and wrapped a bandage around the arm, “All right let’s finished up this head wound and then you can get some rest.”

“Thanks,” Mac said around a yawn. “I’m tired.”

Bozer peeled the soaked gauze from Mac’s forehead. “I’m afraid this is deeper and will probably need stitches.” Mac opened his mouth, no doubt to protest, but Bozer continued. “But I’m going to steri-strip it tonight and we will let the medical professionals with deadening agents do their job tomorrow.”

As Bozer cleaned up Mac’s face, Leanna came back. “Jack’s all tucked away safe in bed, snoring away.” She then took over handing Bozer medical supplies until a half asleep MacGyver was ready to go to bed. Riley and Leanna watched as Bozer helped Mac back to their tents.

“Well that was an eventful night!” Riley stated. Both girls laughed the slightly hysterical laughter of those beyond tired. They made their way to their tent and were soon passed out.

*************************************

The next morning bright and early Mac was awakened by the sound of a motor running nearby. Both his arm and forehead were sore, and he felt like crap. Sitting up slowly he checked on his tent-mates, Bozer was awake and rubbing sleep out of his eyes, while Jack was still passed out. Mac had elected to only take a couple of Tylenol after Leanna had dosed Jack with the morphine. Deciding to let sleeping dogs lie Mac and Bozer made their way out of the tent to see who had came to visit their campsite.

Mac felt as if every muscle in his body had gone through the ringer, and he really wouldn’t recommend getting shoved into a tree by a bear. Outside the tent a large ATV Ranger was parked and a Park Ranger stepped out. She was blonde, about average height, with a stout body, and a friendly smile stretched across her wide face. “Good morning gentlemen. I’m Ranger Rachel.” She paused and stared at Mac. He supposed that he had some nice bruises on his face from the tree, and the way that he had his arm tucked against his body wasn’t exactly natural. “Are you ok, son?” She asked with obvious concern.

Bozer answered for Mac, “You might not believe this, but a bear attacked him last night!” She arched her eyebrow. Bozer continued, “We woke up to this huge grizzly bear just tearing through the camp, then it attacked us. We’re lucky to be alive!”

“Actually, uh ma’am, that’s not exactly how it happened.” Riley and Leanna approached the group, “How you feeling this morning Mac?” Riley asked in concern.

He shrugged his good shoulder. The ranger looked at everybody, “Can somebody tell me what really did happen?”

Leanna stepped up, “We,” she indicated her and Riley. “Opened the tent to find a huge bear in the middle of our camp last night.” She dunked her head, “I freaked out and started screaming, which woke up the guys, and I may have scared the bear.”

“That bear roared so loud that I felt my hair running backwards!” Bozer threw in.

The ranger arched her eyebrow. Riley took up the narrative, “I grabbed the bear spray, intending to chase it back into the woods, but it fell on one of our friends.” This time the second eyebrow joined the first. “Mac here got too close and the bear back handed him into a tree, so I hit it again with the bear spray, and it fell off that cliff.” She gestured to where the cliff was. Not saying anything Ranger Rachel walked over to the cliff and looked over, the group joined her. Mac looked down, not wanting to see the dead bear’s carcass, but couldn’t help himself. He didn’t see anything, it was obvious where the bear had fallen over, but there wasn’t a body. The ranger reached got down and pulled a transmitter collar off a branch that was sticking out a few feet below the cliff’s edge.

Holding up the collar, “The reason I came by this morning was that his collar had been transmitting from the same place for much longer than usual. I wasn’t expecting this.” She turned to Bozer, “And Yogi, isn’t a grizzly bear, he is an American black bear.”

Mac nodded and was about to explain the difference between _ursus americanus_ and _ursus horribilis_ , but Bozer interrupted, “You named the bear, Yogi?” Mac could tell that Bozer was confounded by this revelation.

Ranger Rachel nodded, “He has an affinity for human food, and likes to hang around picnic and camping areas to scavenge food. My daughter named him.” She shrugged, “It seemed quite fitting.”

“So that’s why he had a collar!” Riley guessed.

Holding up the collar the ranger said, “Well, why he used to. Was anybody else hurt in Yogi’s midnight raid? You mentioned he fell onto one of you?” She looked at the group.

“He, well Yogi, fell on Jack, who’s in the tent sleeping it off right now.” Mac said pointing at their tent.

“I can take the two who are injured and a friend down to the clinic, and some of the gear if you would like.” The Ranger offered.

Mac was about to object, but once again Bozer interrupted, “Good!” He turned to Mac, “Go sit in the ATV and I’ll get Jack up.” Mac started to protest.

“No, you’re hurt. If this had happened to any of us, you would do the same.” Riley said sternly. “Leanna and I will hike out and bring the SUV to the clinic. Now go, get in the ATV, and Bozer will have Jack join you shortly.”

Seeing that he was outnumbered Mac grudgingly made his way to the parked ATV and sat himself in the front passenger seat. He watched as Ranger Rachel helped Riley and Leanna start to strike camp. A few minutes passed before Bozer led a stiffly moving Jack to sit in the back seat while he went to pack up their stuff. Mac turned so he could talk to Jack. “How ya feeling there big guy?”

Jack miserably looked up, “I didn’t know muscles could hurt like this. The only place that don’t hurt is my face.”

“Last night you said it was your big toe, or was it your left pinkie toe?” Mac smiled. 

“Those too.”

Bozer was back fairly quickly, then Ranger Rachel joined them and they started down the trail to the local clinic. The trip was not pleasant with all the jostling, and he heard Jack biting back moans when they would hit a bump. Finally, they came to the small clinic that the town had. Ranger Rachel had radioed ahead and they had a wheelchair waiting for Jack. Bozer hovered between the two not knowing which one to stay with. Sighing Mac said, “Just stay with Jack, I’m going to get some stitches, and then hopefully be ready to go when the girls get here.” Bozer looked torn, but with a bit more prompting he left.

Mac had taken a seat on the examination table as the nurse walked in. “Hi, I’m Blake, I’m the nurse practitioner here. So I hear you got into a little tussle with a bear?” Blake’s skin was the color of mocha, with a buzzed head and blinding white teeth; he looked like he used to be a bouncer.

Nodding Mac answered, “unfortunately.”

“That doesn’t sound pleasant. Let’s get some vitals on you and then we can see how you’re doing.” Mac in short order had his blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and eyes checked. Nurse Blake scooted over on the little stool that all doctors sit on, and pulled on his gloves. “I’m going to take these bandages off and see what we’re dealing with.” He started with Mac’s right arm unwinding the bandage and removing the blood soaked gauze.” After gently prodding the wounds he announced, “We’re going to need to put stitches in these lacerations.” Mac had been afraid of that. “And since you were attacked by an animal we’re going to need to thoroughly clean it out, and start you on some antibiotics.” He scooted over to the wound on Mac’s head. As he took the bandage off that one he asked, “So why were you picking fights with a bear? Did you watch too much Davy Crockett as a kid?”

Mac’s chuckle turned into a gasp as the peeling of the steri-stip off of tender skin hurt. “I don’t really remember.” He pointed at the wound the nurse was working on. “I remember it roaring then upchucking on my friend’s foot, but not much in between.”

“Sounds like you gave yourself a concussion.” He said as he peeled the other strip carefully off. “Yep, this one needs some stitches also.” He peeled his gloves off and scooted back where Mac could see him better. “I would like to start you on an IV.” Mac started to protest. Blake held up his hand, “Let me get through this then you can tell me your concerns.” Mac nodded his consent and Blake continued on. “Let’s get an IV started with some pain relief, even with local anesthetic this will hurt, so I want to head that off, and also get you started on the first round of antibiotics.” Blake waited for Mac’s response.

“Okay.” Mac said softly.

Blake graced him with a smile, “Good choice, let me go grab those things. Do you want anything to drink? You’re starting to look a little pale.” He laughed, “Well, paler.”

“Uhhh, a Sprite please?”

“Coming right up.” He stepped out the door leaving Mac to try to relax against the hard surface of the examination table. He heard the door open and opened his eyes, it was Bozer. He struggled to sit up.

Bozer waved him back down, and sat in the seat the Blake had vacated. “Lay down, I was just coming to check on you and update you with what they said about Jack.” Mac motioned for Bozer to go on, but he was staring on Mac’s uncovered wounds. “Man, those look so much worse in this light.”

“Yeah, I’m going to be getting some more stitches, yay!” Mac said, “So how Jack doing?”

Laughing at Mac’s response Bozer twirled on the stool. “They’ve got him hooked up to an IV and are giving him some muscle relaxers and some light pain meds. He should be fine in a few days, right now he’s taking another nap.”

“Good.”

His roommate fixed him with a sharp gaze. “So, what about you?”

“Going to give me an IV for antibiotics and stitch up some of this.” He made a motion indicating his injuries. “Then I should be good to go.”

Bozer raised his eyebrow, “Uh-huh.”

Mac shrugged his good shoulder, “Well I should!”

Blake came back into the room at that moment. Spying Bozer he said, “Howdy brother, you come to check on your friend?” At Bozer’s nod Blake asked Mac, “Is it ok to discuss your treatment plan with him in the room?”

Bozer and Mac both started laughing. “It’s fine. He’s my roommate and would be asking me what you said the moment I stepped out the door anyway.” Nurse Blake nodded handed Mac his Sprite and started setting up for the IV.

“Oh man, the only way that would have been better is if they had asked that of Jack.” Bozer said as he relinquished his seat back to Blake. Mac kept his focus on Bozer while Blake got the IV started, it wasn’t that needles scared him, but somehow watching it go in made it hurt more. Once Blake had the IV going Bozer stepped up beside him and grabbed his free hand.

“I’m going to put the local anesthetic in right now.” Blake announced. Bozer did a good job of distracting Mac as Blake first numbed the areas, then sutured them up. When it was done Mac had about sixty stitches in him and Bozer had the aftercare instructions.

“You might be a bit lightheaded for a little bit before the pain medicine finishes working its way through your system.” Blake told them as Mac sat up, the room spun for a second, but quickly righted itself. “Make sure you take the prescribed medicine, and I’ve included a script for a few pain pills, it’s up to you if you want to fill it or not.” Bozer snorted a laugh. Mac sent him a glare. “Well I guess that answers that question.” Blake said laughing. “Take care of yourselves, and Mac? Don’t wrestle with any more bears okay?”

With a nod Mac said, “I’ll do my best. Thank you.” They shook hands and Blake left.

“All right Roomie, let’s get you to Riley and Leanna. They’re waiting for us in the waiting room.” Bozer helped Mac steady himself then hovered behind him all the way to the waiting room. Once Mac was situated with Riley, Bozer then went to go get Jack.

Riley held up the keys, “Your chariot awaits, sir. And Fred said to tell you that there are other ways to leave the woods other than all bloody.” Mac laughed at that. “Well come on, let’s get you loaded up, I see Bozer coming with Jack.”

The five of them slowly made their way to the SUV. Riley drove, with Mac riding shotgun. Jack, Bozer, and Leanna sat behind them. As Riley backed out onto the road she said “I think I speak for everyone when I say this, I never want to go camping again!”

**Author's Note:**

> Liked it? Found some problems? Let me know!


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